Northern Ontario bridge fails in cold, closing Manitoba’s route to Thunder Bay

The bridge is located approximately 120 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont. It was closed in both directions by Ontario Provincial Police Sunday afternoon, January 10, and will stay closed indefinitely.

“We’re not sure exactly what the damage to the bridge is at this point”, he said in an interview.

It caused the east side of the bridge to rise about two feet.

The Ontario Government is working to find out what happened and to get the Nipigon Bridge re-opened.

Ontario’s brand new Nipigon River Bridge is out of commission, after extreme cold broke one of its expansion joints.

He added that it’s not clear when the crossing will reopen, and the main alternative to the route involves a long detour through the U.S. Late Sunday night, with engineers on site to assess the situation, no solution had been announced.

The only option for motorists driving across northern Ontario is to cross the USA border, there being no alternate road routes north of the Trans-Canada, Harvey said. Marie, ON, or vice versa for westbound drivers. If you were to drive to Toronto from Winnipeg, you would have to cross that bridge on the way.

Municipality of Greenstone declare state of emergency because of the Nipigon River Bridge closure.

Reports say that eastbound vehicle traffic is being turned back to Terrace Bay, and the Nipigon Community Centre is open as a refuge for stranded travellers.